New Features in OptiLayer 2016 (version 11.65)

OptiLayer:

New important features for designing of architecture coatings: U- and g-values evaluation is implemented. It is possible to consider double- and triple-glazing configurations. The detailed description of these values can be found in the DIN EN 410 and DIN EN 673 standards. If Current design is selected at one or more glass surfaces, current design will be considered in the glazing and U- and g-values will be updated accordingly. It may be very beneficial for new glazing optimization problems in architectural glass industry. The details are here.

Random/Constrained Optimization:

Constrained optimization when a Stack loaded to memory is now possible. Layers of designs in a stack are numbered consequently using two numbers: design number and the number of layer in this design.

Random optimization (Design mode) has been improved: layers fixed in Random Optimization Setup dialog are fixed at the beginning of the refinement and released to optimization at the next step. This improvement allows one to search more concentrated around the selected design, because thicknesses of fixed layers are not changing so significantly in general in the course of Random Optimization procedure.

"Starting TOT" specification has been added in the Random Optimization options. When specified, it allows one to introduce an additional correction of generated random starting designs. It is possible to correct TOT (Total Optical Thickness) to be equal to some given value or to be equal to the TOT of the loaded design.

Color coordinates of the conventional target are displayed on the color diagram (Color Evaluation window). This display can be activated and deactivated. Separate Target Color window has been removed.

The ability to set Anchor point has been added to the Target Color Setup dialog.

CIE H°LC and CIE C*hs(uv) color diagrams have been redesigned. New polar coordinates color diagrams allow zooming and panning. Axes are displayed outside the diagram to avoid intersections and overlapping with data marks.

Color Targets in Polar coordinates are displayed even if only two of three related values are specified (Chroma and Hue). Color Range targets are now available for color spaces with polar coordinates (CIE C*hs(uv) and CIE H0LC) and for L*a*b* color space. Yield analysis is now possible for these color spaces as well. The boundaries of Range targets are correctly plotted as curves in polar coordinate systems.

In Color Patch view added ability to see the patch number and angle of incidence related to the mouse pointer position. This information is displayed in the status bar.

Maximum number of cavities in WDM option has been increased from 20 to 25. It was done in order to allow the consideration of the most complicated extremely steep filters.

The concept of Vacuum Materialshas been introduced. Such materials could be loaded additionally to normal, or common materials and will share the same abbreviations. If a Vacuum material is available for the same abbreviation, it will be used instead of a common material in all calculations that are related to vacuum environment: OptiMonitor, BBM, WDM, and monochromatic simulators, pre-production estimation of errors, strategy generators. Vacuum materials can be controlled in the Arrange materials dialog, using General Information window, or additional load options of the Layer Materials database.

New in Design Cleaning/Thin Film Removal:

Thin Layer Removal: the information column displaying layer abbreviation has been added. This is especially useful for metal-dielectric films, when thin metallic layers are present in the design.

Design Cleaner: the ability to specify the number of layers as a termination criterion has been added. The dialog is accordingly redesigned.

Deep Search option has been added to Design Cleaner. In this mode Design Cleaner works significantly longer, because it uses deep analysis algorithm allowing to select the best possible trajectory for cleaning design layers.

Deep Search Option has been added to Needle Optimization. It performs all needle insertions and successive refinements and selects the providing the best improvement of the MF value.

Overshot thickness option is implemented. It works with monitoring spreadsheet itself, all Strategy generators, Pre-production estimation of errors, and deposition simulators. The details are coming soon...

OptiChar and OptiRE:

The ability to set Anchor point has been added to the Measurements Color Setup dialog.

Hartmann model for refractive index dispersion introduced on the basis of customer's request.

Discrepancies tab at the Color Evaluation window now has three subtabs allowing to analyze the discrepancies between the Model and Color Target, Model and Measurements (represented in some color space), Color Target and Measurements. Default reference can be individually selected for each subtab.

Now measurements color characteristics are represented in the same Color Evaluation window. This display can be activated and deactivated. Separate Measurements Color window has been removed.

Integrals (View menu) command added. It opens a window where integral characteristics related to either the current model or loaded measurements are displayed. It is possible to control colors and fonts of every entry independently. Currently the display is limited to spectrophotometric values. Optionally it is possible to include currently loaded source and detector to calculations. If necessary presented values can be normalized with respect to spectral weight function.

U- and g-values evaluation is implemented. It is possible to consider double- and triple-glazing configurations. The detailed description of these values can be found in the DIN EN 410 and DIN EN 673 standards. If * Current * option is selected at one or more glass surfaces, current RE model will be considered in the glazing and U- and g-values will be updated accordingly. Also it is possible to upload T, R, BR measurement data (three files in XY format) instead one or more glasses in order to perform U- and g-values evaluation corresponding to these measurements. This option may be very beneficial for new glazing optimization problems in architectural glass industry.

Reverse engineering of symmetrical configurations (the same coating at both substrate sides) is now possible. To perform this it is necessary to select *Current* as a Back Coating design.

OptiLayer, OptiChar and OptiRE Interface:

Import of Essential Macleod Designs and Stacks has been improved in cases when material data is embedded to the data file.

Export to Excel from all charts improved. Now it is compatible with all versions of Excel, including the latest Excel 2016.

More friendly check for a new version. When new version is not available, a popup window doesn't display. It is less disturbing for everyday work.

Configuration menu now allows to specify the exact number of cores available for computations. It is especially useful for COM interfaces and in situations when besides OptiLayer programs some other programs should run at the same system simultaneously.

Integrals, values window problem discovered and fixed. When an integral value dependent on a spectral curve of a loaded Integral Target was displayed, it remained the same after unloading of Integral Target. Now such values are removed or updated when the Integral target is changed.

The maximum number of vertexes in polygons (Color Range Targets) increased up to 999.

The ability to use Copy, Paste, Cut, Select All, Column Editor, Insert Above/Below, Delete Rows operations has been added for Color Range Targets with the spreadsheet of vertex coordinates (mainly using right-click menu or keyboard shortcuts).

Concave polygons are now permitted as Color Range targets. Test of Point inside the polygon required for Yield analysis is performed correctly in this case also.

Memorize plots option added to refractive index profiles window.

"Important" option has been to Collection and History. Important designs are preserved in these lists. The number of Important Designs cannot exceed half of the size of the related storage object.

"Stay on Top" button has been added to the Collection and History windows.

The ability to edit Gain, Zero and Initial Readout columns have been added directly in the Monitoring Spreadsheet. Additionally Gain is expressed in percentage, if percentage was chosen for the display of transmittance and reflectance. Gain should be entered directly, it is different from the options dialog where the gain is calculated using "Initial readout" values. Initial Readout and Gain are interconnected columns.

Widths of Monitoring spreadsheet columns are preserved between OptiLayer sessions.

Import commands placed in a separate submenu of the main menu for faster and easier access. Multi-Import of data files implemented. All Data Import commands moved from Edit to Data menu (near Measurements) menu item. It is more logical location for these items, since all of them are related to measurements. It is possible to open a folder with data files or alternatively to use Drag-and-drop mouse interface. Drop target might be either the Multi-Import window itself, or database window. In the last case Multi-Import window will be opened automatically. File formats and structures are recognized using file extensions and additional smart internal data analyzer. It is possible to configure file import settings for each category of data files separately and to exclude some undesirable files from import operation manually. After the confirmation mass import of files will be performed to the current Measurements database. If a file with the same name exists, the confirmation to overwrite the file (or all files) will be required. This option dramatically simplifies the import of big amount of measurement files for further processing.

Direct Import of multiple spectra from Excel spreadsheets implemented. It dramatically simplifies the import of measurement data, especially in cases when many spectra are measured. First, the whole Excel file is analyzed for possible information containing spectra. Columns that may contain wavelengths or wavenumbers are detected using the fact that these values should be monotonically decreasing or increasing. Spectral data should be placed to the right of the corresponding wavelength/wavenumber column. It is possible to place several spectra data to the right of a single wavelength/wavenumber column or each spectrum may have its own wavelength/wavenumber column associated. All extracted data are presented in summary overview window, where it is possible to deselected unneeded data and give different names to the measurement data files. By default the names of measurement data files are formed with the name of the source Excel file followed by the name of the Worksheet (if multiple worksheets are present) and the designation the Excel range related to data files. If several spectra are targeted to the same measurement file (for this you need to rename some of them), they are combined together.